Hilola Umarova explained why "language owners" were brought from abroad

Since 2023, more than 500 foreign teachers have been recruited to teach English, German, and French as "language speakers" in educational institutions.

Starting in 2024, the number of "language owners" will be increased to 1,500, and in 2025, it is planned to increase the number of foreign language specialists to 2,000.

The Minister of Preschool and School Education, Hilola Umarova, in her article titled "Today's Reforms in the Education System Serve the Prosperity of the Country," published in the newspaper "Yangi O'zbekiston" No. 5 of January 9, 2025, also focused on why the "language owners" reform was implemented.

Minister Hilola Umarova stated the following in the article

The "Uzbekistan - 2030" strategy sets the task of bringing 500 foreign specialists who are "language speakers" to educational organizations every year. Most countries actively use this practice.

For example, the United Kingdom alone attracted over 100,000 foreign teachers in 2023 to improve the quality of education. A similar experience has been established in China, where up to 400,000 foreign language teachers are brought in every year.

Based on international experience, we are consistently continuing the work set within the framework of this project. First of all, we have defined our requirements for a foreign language teacher. Then we consulted, analyzed, and studied with the international organization TESOL (Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages).

We have held negotiations with reputable recruiting companies, educational organizations, and established close cooperation with embassies. At the end, we brought 500 foreign language teachers with international certificates and extensive experience to our country. As a result, the level of language proficiency of 500 schoolchildren has increased from an average of 5% to 15% across the regions.

"Natives of the language" will hold additional club sessions three times a week along with a 20-hour lesson and organize trainings for our local teachers. Another important aspect is that the lesson is accompanied by a local teacher, meaning they complement each other as co-teachers. This has many advantages. On the one hand, a foreign specialist shares their knowledge with both the student and the teacher.

On the other hand, he will get acquainted with our education system. As a rule, our students score high on the listening or reading comprehension section of the IELTS test. But when it comes to writing and speaking skills, it must be admitted that the scores go down.

Therefore, our students need additional support for the productive part. Therefore, it is very important to create a language environment with foreign specialists, that is, to develop the ability to easily communicate, understand, and speak," said Hilola Umarova.

The article also provides information about the practice of teaching students two foreign languages and one profession

"In the 2023/2024 academic year, a number of works were carried out to gradually introduce the practice of teaching two foreign languages and one profession to students in one general secondary educational institution in each district (city).

In particular, curricula have been developed for English, German, French, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, selected as the second foreign language. Last academic year, two foreign languages were taught in 208 secondary schools. This academic year, the number of such schools has been increased to 354," the article says.